Date: March 18th, 1998
Type: Saab 340B
Registration: B-1225
Operator: Formosa Airlines
Where: Taipet, Taiwan
Report No.: Not Available
Report Date: -
Pages: -

This is not an accident investigation report.

March 18, 1998 - Rescuers Find Wreckage Of Vanished Taiwan Plane

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Rescue boats have found the wreckage of a Taiwan domestic airliner that vanished from radar on Wednesday, the private TVBS news station reported.

"Rescue officials have located the site of the wreckage in the sea," a TVBS reporter said from the northern Hsinchu county, where the plane had disappeared from radar two minutes after takeoff.

The station also said it had unconfirmed reports that two dead bodies had been recovered. Rescue officials contacted by news services said they could not confirm the reports.

"We are still waiting for information from our rescue boats," an official said by telephone from Hsinchu.

Formosa Airlines' 36-seat Saab 360, carrying eight passengers and five crew, disappeared from radar two minutes after takeoff at 1130 GMT from Hsinchu. It was headed for the southern city of Kaohsiung. The sun had already set, leaving authorities to search in darkness about six miles offshore.